Civil Air Patrol Published Jan. 16, 2009 By Thomas L. Pickett, Lt Col, Commander Civil Air Patrol Hulman Field, Ind. -- Since moving to our new quarters in the 181st hangar this past summer the Terre Haute Squadron of the Indiana Wing Civil Air Patrol has had an active flight agenda. As usual the Wing counter-drug program was operational from mid-May through mid-October and our corporate fleet of eight aircraft flew 220 DEA missions totaling 859 hours. The Indiana State Police credited the Civil Air Patrol flights with locating 2,758 marijuana plants for a street value of approx $4.1 million. Specifically, the Terre Haute Squadron flew 73 of those missions for a total flight time of 208 hours. The USAF has an agreement with several colleges throughout the State of Indiana designating the CAP to provide orientation flights to selected AFROTC cadets during the academic year. For several years the Terre Haute Squadron has been supporting the AFROTC program at Indiana State University and Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. The squadron also assists in flying cadets from Notre Dame, Purdue, and Indiana University. The flying portion of the program which is provided by our local squadron introduces the cadets to "hands on flying" with hopes of inspiring them towards a career in aviation. Each cadet involved in this program is provided with four hours of front seat, hands on flight time, and unlimited back seat observation time. As in previous years, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security has provided us with several flood damage assessment missions. This year these missions took us from the Chicago area to the Evansville area providing hundreds of digital pictures of flooded areas to the dept of HLS. In the early part of 2008, the flooded areas of Northern Indiana were declared a National Disaster Area and participating members of the local squadron were awarded a National Ribbon for their service. Recently, we were contacted by Major Chris Snyder to fly a Safety Survey for Military Training Routes VR 1679 and IR 618 for the ANG. The Squadron has been doing this for several years and looks forward to working with our friends and colleagues. The winter months provide the squadron with time to review procedures, train new members, and gear up for the busy season from May through October.